Fellowship Surgeons A History of the American College of Surgeons BY LOYAL DAVIS E GE ---- 0/, ' j Tz_ OMNIBVS PER ARTEM FIDEMQVE PRO DESSE American College of Surgeons Fellowship of Surgeons Fellowship of Surgeons A History of the American College of Surgeons BY LOYAL DAVIS, M.D., F.A.C.S. American College of Surgeons AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS 55 East Erie Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2797 ©1960, by Charles C. Thomas • Publisher ©1973, by American College of Surgeons. ©1981, by American College of Surgeons. ©1984, by American College of Surgeons. ©1988, by American College of Surgeons. ©1993, by American College of Surgeons. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 59-15598 Printed in the United States of America FOREWORD The most conscientious historian must deal with legends, and legends grow rapidly. Even the passage of a day begins to turn facts into fanciful and entertaining stories. Interestingly told, these tales combine truth and ridiculousness in such delightful and charming proportions that they are bound to last for a long time. The story of the American College of Surgeons is that of the development and progress of surgery in America. No other medical organization, voluntarily entered into by its Fellows, has exerted such a profound influence upon the discipline and art of surgery in the United States. This book is concerned with the many men, each with his in- cisive personality, who were dedicated to the purpose of ele- vating the level of the surgical treatment of patients by raising the standards of hospital facilities and continuing the education of the surgeon. It is a chronological and progressive record of the accomplishments and failures of these men, brought to- gether and stimulated by a man with imagination—a dreamer, an enthusiast, a driver—whose mark upon American surgery has been made by the organization which he conceived. The considerable research which provided the material upon which this book is based was performed by Miss Eleanor K. Grimm, who has devoted her life to Franklin H. Martin and the American College of Surgeons. The enormous amount of factual data assembled and indexed by Eleanor Grimm was obtained from published articles and stenographic reports of the meetings of the Board of Regents and various committees. An attempt has been made to confine and contain all of these interesting and detailed facts within this book and to relate them to the individuals concerned and to current events in the world. vi Fellowship of Surgeons Only a few of the original important evidences of the steps by which the American College of Surgeons became a strong in- fluence in the world of surgery have been placed for ready reference in appendices. There are far too many men and women who have devoted themselves to the American College of Surgeons for years, and who have provided invaluable opinions, guidance and help to me, to list here. Their contributions to this book are in many instances hidden but nonetheless they are inestimable in the combined effort which has produced a story about surgery for the entertainment and information of those who read it. LOYAL DAVIS Chicago FELLOWSHIP OF SURGEONS And so they gave their bodies to the Com- monwealth, and earned each for himself praise that will never die. And with it the most glorious of sepulchres, not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men where their glory remains fresh to stir to speech or to action as occasion arises. For the whole world is the sepulchre of famous men, and their story is not graven only on stone from above their native earth, but lives on far away without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men's lives. PERICLES' Oration to the Athenian Dead CHAPTER 1 N A WARM, pleasant Sunday evening in September of 1904, four young doctors were seated around the dining table Oof the house at 3210 Lake Park Avenue in Chicago.° They were there at the invitation of Dr. Franklin H. Martin, a dynamic, Indian-erect, red-haired gynecologist who was their teacher and friend. Isabelle and Franklin Martin had built this house on the shore of Lake Michigan after Franklin had finally developed a substantial surgical practice. Now they were able to break the silver cord which kept them in the rented house, their first home, just a few doors from Isabelle's domineering father and mother, the Dr. John H. Hollisters. Isabelle and Franklin were proud of their new home, and almost every Sunday afternoon and evening doctors were among the young guests whom they invited for supper. This Sunday evening, Isabelle was upset. Franklin had told her that he had invited these four young doctors to discuss the founding of a new surgical journal. She had warned him that he was working far beyond his physical strength, that he had enough irons in the fire. As part of the evidence, she listed his growing practice, his experimental work, the Post-Graduate Medical School, of which he was one of the founders, the Poli- clinic Hospital situated on the north side of Chicago to which he made trips across town three times a week. She was as per- sistent in her opposition to his plan as he was determined to bring it off. He had told her he wouldn't give up the idea until it had been proven that it wouldn't work. He had gone too far in discussing his ideas to stop now. Besides, he had enthusiastic support from his secretary, Margaret Br'wen, and his friends, * See Appendix, Chapter 1:1. 4 Fellowship of Surgeons Dr. John B. Murphy and Thomas E. Donnelley of the famous printing firm. Isabelle did her best during supper to keep the conversation gay and interesting in fields far removed from medicine. Final- ly, Franklin began to tell of the annoyances and difficulties he had experienced in having medical articles published properly. Old-style medical journalism was dry, sterile and commercial, he said. He pointed out that The Journal of the American Medical Association, started in 1883 by his old Professor at the Chicago Medical College, Nathan Smith Davis, was the only medical journal in existence which was not financed and published by a commercial firm. In his enthusiasm, he went so far as to say that doctors were being exploited by the publishers of scientific medical magazines. It was time to organize a surgical journal for practical surgeons, edited by surgeons in practice instead of by litterateurs who were remotely, if at all, connected with the care of patients. The profits from such an undertaking should be used to strengthen the influence and worth of the journal. Isabelle knew that he would not be contradicted or opposed by the four young men who were associated with him in his professional work. William Cubbins and John Hollister were her first cousins; Frederic Besley was their second cousin. Allen Kanavel, the "outsider," had caught Martin's eye when he had been granted the privilege of bringing his occasional patient into the Post-Graduate Hospital for surgery. As they sat and listened, the four young doctors knew that their teacher had thought his plan through to the smallest de- tail. He said that the journal would be printed by the R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, the best printing firm in Chicago. He had been assured of this by Ted Donnelley who had become his friend at the Midlothian Country Club to which Isabelle and he belonged. Ted would see to the style, the typography and the quality of paper and promised that it would appear with- out fail on the first day of each month. John B. Murphy was just as enthusiastic about the idea. There was great need for a fine surgical magazine which would include within it articles in all of the special fields of surgery. Margaret Bowen had mature judgment, was efficient, ambitious and had proven herself Fellowship of Surgeons 5 loyal to Martin's projects. She would be in charge of obtaining advertising and subscriptions, in addition to being his secretary. Finally, there came a pause in the salesman's speech and Kanavel asked how the first issue would be financed, how large a journal it should be and how much a subscription would cost. Martin looked at him and grinned impishly. He knew that Kanavel was the most logical one of the four, the most practical and the one least likely to be affected by his oratory. What was more, Martin knew that he had not quite thought out all of these details but he had enough facts to answer the immediate questions. Isabelle had been listening quietly and was pleased that at least one young man was not completely taken in by this mad scheme. She said that her father had been worried almost to death by an effort, modest in comparison, which he had made to publish a scientific journal without the support of com- mercial firms. Martin was shrewd enough to realize that the point had come when they should talk without his wife and that he should en- courage his guests to volunteer their ideas. He needed help to put his plans into effect and these were the men to do it, par- ticularly Kanavel. Isabelle's opposition dissolved in tears of frus- tration as they left her behind in the dining room helping her maid clear the table. As a result of the long evening's exchange of thoughts, it was decided that the new surgical journal should have 100 pages, 60 of which would be devoted to scientific articles and 40 to advertising.